As WiFi makes its way into cellular phones, configuring these devices can be burdensome. Basic WiFi provisioning requires a Network ID (generally referred to as the Service Set Identifier or SSID) and encryption keys to be configured properly in the phone and the access point. In some applications, it is possible for a phone to automatically detect an SSID from a beacon signal broadcast by the access point, thereby avoiding the need to manually configure it. However, for security purposes the access point may be provisioned to disable the broadcast of the SSID, in which case the end user of the phone needs to manually configure the phone with the SSID and one or more encryption keys.
Once provisioned, the cell phone also needs to request an IP address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. Acquiring an IP address can take a few seconds, thereby stalling the process for enabling communications. For dual-mode cell phones that roam from one wireless access point to another, the handoff process can severely impact communications such as Voice over IP (VoIP) taking place in a previous access point.
A need therefore arises for a method for seamless communications between a communication device and wireless access points.